I Open At The Close
by vazy
Summary: With the wizarding world in dark times as He-who-must-not-be-named causes mass devastation, happiness still manages to bloom. The story of Willow Evans and her family's lives in the middle of a war.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The dappled autumn light fell across the street, illuminating everything with an orange glow to match the leaves on the trees. The light breeze ruffled everything, playfully tugging at people's hair and coats. The early evening was perfect, it reflected everything that was right in the world at that moment.

Willow Evans' eyes tracked a duckling as it chased its mother across the lake at the center of the park. Sitting cross-legged on the park bench she continued to wait. The wind picked up the ends of her red hair tossing it across her face. A smile curled her lips as she watched the few people passing her by. It was so peaceful here that she didn't want to move. The sun warmed her skin and her eyes drifted closed, relaxing into the worn wood of the bench. In these times you couldn't let your guard down for a second, but for the few moments it lasted it was nice. Half opening her eyes she spotted the blur of red as it sprinted at her. Before she could do anything the woman was on her. Willow felt the air crushed out of her lungs.

"Hey Lil, I'm using those lungs!" she chuckled patting her sister on the head. Laughing the other woman let go. Matching green eyes and flaming hair showed the obvious relation. If the pair hadn't been separated by those two years of age they could have been mistaken for twins. Lily Evans sat onto the bench next to Willow, eyes darting round to check for danger.

"Where's that no-good husband of yours then?" Willow prodded, distracting Lily from her scan of the near vicinity. Lily shifted uncomfortably under the teasing gaze.

"Yeah well, where's Tara!" She poked her sister in the side, Willow slapped the hand away.

"How do those even link Lil? I mean James, your husband, as in the man you are married to for eternity. And Tara, my best friend and flat mate, yes I love her but... Really no connection what so ever," Willow babbled before taking a deep breath of air and answering the question "Tare's caught up at St. Mungos. Said she'd meet us there." Lily rolled her eyes at her sister's denseness.

"Friends, yeah," She received a death glare "James' got distracted by a dog." One red eyebrow rose in response, Lily waved the silent question away.

"Your husband is odd." Willow said as she wrinkled her nose at the thought of the black haired man in question. A look of delight crossed her face as she turned to voice a thought to Lily.

"Don't you dare say this proves your 'James and Sirius secret luuuurve affair'," Willow laughed at the flat tone in Lily's voice

"You read too much muggle romance novels, James and Sirius together, no. Uh-uh, and James just likes dogs okay?" Lily puffed out her cheeks in annoyance as she finished her rant.

"Totally gay for each other Lil, if you weren't in the picture… Bam! Instant couple!" Willow chortled, hearing her sister mutter darkly under her breath, Willow laughed harder.

"Thanks so much, Miss 'I'm gayer than Christmas'." Came the defensive tone of a man. Willow rolled her eyes and hopped of the bench to greet her brother-in-law. Giving him a one armed hug, she couldn't help but smile.

"Oh James-y, you know how proud of that title I am." With a wink she ruffled his dark hair and knock his glasses lopsided before spinning on her heel to help her sister up. James' scowled at his sister-in-law.

"I don't love Sirius! Tell her Lil." He whined to his wife as she linked his and Willow's arms through hers.

"Of course James, now be quite." She shushed her husband before turning and vanishing into thin air with husband and sister in tow, leaving only a loud crack of sound behind them in the peaceful park.

* * *

><p>No one would have noticed the trio appearing in the dark and dank London street miles away from their original location, that is unless they'd been waiting. The blonde witch, who was hiding in the shadows of the tall dirty brick wall, whipped her wand out pointing it at them.<p>

"Tare!" Willow cried hurrying to the other witch to hug her. Before she could get the other witch in her arms she was poked hard in the chest with a wand. Big pleading green eyes met hard blue.

"Sorry Will but y-you know what Dumbledore said about checking." Willow pouted, before the fact settled in and a guilty smile painted itself on the witch's face. Tara's eyes darted to the couple behind the redhead. Matching guilt.

"None of you checked?" Three heads shook "We're in the middle of a war! And I think that the auror would be the one to remember to check." Willow pouted pitifully at her flat mate. Tara's heart melted.

"O-okay Will, but w-what's the name of our cat?"

"Miss Kitty Fantastico!" Willow smiled brilliantly before returning the gesture.

"How did we meet?" Tara sighed to herself; this was one of Willow's favourite questions to pull out of the bag.

"You knocked me over in your haste to get to the food trolley on our first train journey." A giggle was covered up from the pair hiding behind Willow. Turning a glare on them a flush covered her face, she'd forgotten they'd been there.

"Okay, I was excited. Hello, first time on the way to a magic school and the snacks looked really good." James sniggered behind a hand as Willow shot lasers at him.

"Don't forget Mister I let a lot of stuff slide at Hogwarts when I was head girl, plus I let you have my baby sister!" An outraged look crossed the married couples' faces as they both opened their mouths to argue back. A soft hand on Willow's arm distracted her from the family squabble and she looked at blue eyes shining with mirth. Waving a hand in the direction of her sister and brother-in-law to show how little she cared, she turned her attention back to her flat mate.

"See, knew it was you, makin' me get all check-y." Willow mock glared and stuck her tongue out, wrapping her arms around Tara in a friendly hug.

"Of c-course Willow, but did you check those two?" Willow dropped her arms before grumbling to herself about procedures and knowing her own family. Tara stifled her own laughter at the predictable girl.

* * *

><p>Standing in front of two grubby houses the group paused, attempting to look casual.<p>

"Who's got the note? You know Dumble's been fiddling with the security." James hissed at the three women. Three sets of eyes fell on Willow.

"Why do you assume I have it, jeez." She was met with a series of raised eyebrows, with an irritable roll of her eyes she began to search her coat pockets. Before they knew it an endless stream of useless items were being retrieved from the redhead's pockets. A packet of sherbet lemons along with a catnip toy, luminous green nail varnish, toothbrush, screwdriver, lighter, five pound note, a retainer and a file marked with confidential found their way into Tara's hands. She and James eyed the few muggle items tangled up in the more normal items; both of them being pure blood meant they were still a little confused by some of the things Willow toted around with her daily. Lily hit her forehead with her palm when her sister passed her a rubber duck.

"Willow, come on-" Lily groused before getting cut off by the sound of triumph the other redhead made as she whipped out both her wand and a scrap of parchment. Beaming happily, Willow stuffed the items back into her pockets before opening the parchment, reading it and handing it over to the others. A loud grinding sound rent the air as a house pushed its way between the other two houses that they stood outside of.

Number Twelve Grimmauld place loomed over them, dark and foreboding. The sun that had been warming the world since early that morning seemed to disappear, leaving in its wake a cold emptiness. For a moment no one moved, they just studied the house.

"I forget how butt-ugly Sirius' house is." James muttered pulling a face.

"C-cold t-too." Tara stuttered glumly. The two Evans sisters shared a look of similar disgust before making their way up the dark stone steps.

"Meeting ahoy!" Willow enthused as she used her wand to unlock the front door's many locks.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The kitchen at Number Twelve was filled with about a dozen people. Willow grinned, sticking her tongue between her teeth. These were the people she knew, the life she knew. Dark wizard hunting. And she loved every moment of it. Well not the paperwork, she thought, wrinkling her nose at the thought of the nasty, nasty paperwork that at that moment sat on her desk at work.

Speaking of that paperwork she decided to steer clear of her pretty much boss, Alastor Moody, who was right now involved in what appeared to be a serious discussion with her other superior, Kingsley Shacklebolt.

The tug on her arm by Tara led Willow to follow her and the two they'd arrived with towards a pair of bickering men.

"Come on Moony but it'll be my Birthday!" Sirius Black begged Remus Lupin, attempting to use huge puppy eyes on the other man. With a roll of his eyes Lupin turned to greet the new arrivals.

"Hello Willow, Tara, Lily. Now James will you please tell him to leave me alone." The finger jabbed towards the unshaven Sirius, who looked like someone had kicked a puppy in front of him.

"But Prongs, he won't go out with me on my Birthday!"

"That's probably because you want him to come to a strip club with you, because I won't." James muttered with a roll of the eyes. Before Sirius could debate this, Lily cut in.

"No way in hell are you taking my husband to a strip club, Black." Lily practically growled at him. Both Tara and Willow tried to muffle their laughter. Suddenly a pair of pleading grey eyes had locked onto them.

"Willow…" Sirius pleaded, Willow's eyes widened.

"No way, nuh-uh! No!" Shaking her head she crossed her arms.

"But you like girls. Naked girls at that." Resisting the urge to slap Sirius, Willow shook her head again.

"If you like your body the way it is I suggest you drop it." Willow bluffed. Sirius decided to take his chances, pulling himself to his full height; towering above the redhead.

"Save me Tara!" Willow hid behind the Blonde healer in panic. Before the situation could develop any further, someone cleared their throat. Loudly. All of the group froze in place. Twinkling blue eyes surveyed them merrily.

"S-sorry Professor." Tara supplied for them before leading Willow to sit down.

"When did he get here…?" Willow whispered in Tara's ear before slumping into her seat.

"Now that we're all, uh, focused," Dumbledore smiled kindly at the young members of the order before continuing, "We should start the meeting."

* * *

><p>Willow's head was resting against Tara's shoulder as she fought to keep her eyes open. The meeting was dragging on, Elphias Doge had been droning on about a death eater sighting for the past half-an-hour.<p>

Tara rested her head on top of the flaming red locks. She was just as tired as Willow, both of them had been pulling double shifts at their respective jobs and with work for the Order of the Phoenix.

Tara sighed as she thought about having to get up early the next morning to get into St. Mungo's early to check in on one of her patients. Sighing she felt Willow's jaw move in a giant yawn.

"Willow." At the sound of her name Willow's head shot up knocking Tara from her resting place.

"I, um, yes Professor Dumbledore?" Willow asked weakly, blinking her eyes in surprise. Off to the side she heard her sister snigger, fighting the urge to turn and glare she kept her attention focused on Dumbledore.

"How did the information you dug up on the Lestrange's plan go?" Willow nodded eagerly at Dumbledore's words, straightening up from leaning against her flat mate's shoulder.

"It went okay, I found that there's been a lot of activity in there account at Gringotts from a goblin I spoke to when on Ministry business." Tara tried to keep the frown off her face at the thought of innocent creatures being dragged into the Wizarding War.

"By the looks of the lack of captures of Death Eaters too lately," Willow looked at Moody for confirmation to this fact. "Something big is happening. They're not out on petty joy rides at the moment…" She trailed off nervously. Tara took her hand squeezing it in comfort.

"Thank you Willow, will you please keep an eye on the situation and keep digging up as much as you can," Dumbledore concluded, "And with that, I think we can draw this meeting to a close." Smiling he stood up, his deep purple robes swirling impressively around him as he left the kitchen. Willow blew out a noisy breath as the door shut. Yawning Lily stood up from her seat next to Willow and stretched.

"My big sis, an important cog in the defeat of Voldemort." Lily teased her sister. Willow glared at her darkly before helping pull Tara to her feet. Tara stretched as well before smiling at the sisters.

"A-are you and James coming to ours for dinner tonight or…?" Tara smiled at the couple.

James shook his head for his wife, he smiled apologetically.

"Sorry Tare, I made plans for us tonight. Next time? So long as you cook 'cause your cooking is amazing, and well I don't trust the Evans sisters anywhere near a kitchen." He smirked as he received twin glares from the two red heads. Before the pair could attack him Sirius appeared.

"How come I never get invited to dinner?" He whined pitifully. Willow's glare turned on him.

"Because, Black last time you came to our house you got drunk made several unwelcome lesbian jokes and passed out in my bedroom." Lupin stood next to Tara trying to fight the urge to laugh, Tara shot him an exasperated look, that clearly told him it was his turn to clean up the fight.

"Oh dear where's Peter gone? That little rat has disappeared…" Remus asked innocently, all the eyes turned to him. Sirius frowned and started to state the obvious that Peter never showed to the meeting and how did the werewolf not notice his absence. Raising one red eyebrow Willow turned her attention away from the men and to Tara.

"Taaaaaaare, can we go home? I'm hungry." Willow pouted pathetically to reinforce her pitiful mood.

"One s-sec, Will. I w-want to ask Fabien if they k-know how Fred is, Molly brought him in y-yesterday." The blonde drifted over to a pair of men who both had shocking red hair. The Prewett twins both greeted her happily, smiling softly Tara asked her question, without bothering with a proper greeting.

"D-do you know how F-Fred is? Molly brought him in, s-she thought he had a mild case of Scrofungulus." Gideon frowned, obviously having no idea what was going on with his nephew, but Fabien nodded.

"I spoke to Molly earlier, Fred's fine the magic booster you gave him worked a treat. Her only problem now is being run into the ground with the gaggle of kids." He smirked at his sister and brother-in-law's want for a large family.

"T-thanks. Pass my love along to them all?" Tara smiled again and left the twins alone.

* * *

><p>Willow flopped bonelessly onto the sofa in the living room, letting out a happy sigh as she sunk deeper into the cushions. Tara stood at the front door checking all the locks and magic charms were still safely in place and no one would be getting into the flat without one hell of a warning. With a final flick of her wand she was satisfied. Willow rolled her head back to view Tara over the back of the sofa.<p>

"I love being home. Have I told you that? Merlin, home is good-" The rest of her happy babble was cut off as a black and white cat pounced on her demanding attention. Tara smiled at the sight of Willow making a fuss over their cat.

"W-what do you want for dinner, i-its late but I can make something." Willow nodded enthusiastically as the little cat in her lap purred like an engine.

"Anything Tare, I love all your cooking. Love you!" Willow shouted as Tara retreated into the kitchen to scavenge a late night meal for them.

By the time they managed to eat it was nearly midnight. They both sat nestled on opposite ends of the sofa both cradling mugs of tea, feet lying next to each other in the centre. The flat was warm and outside the sounds of London were quiet and seemed a million miles away.

Willow rested her head on the back of the sofa and studied the blonde across from her. Long blonde hair was draped over her shoulder in a plait and blue eyes were half closed. Smiling softly Willow cast her mind back and could remember countless evenings spent like this. She could hardly remember a time without Tara in her life; she was as much of a feature as Lily.

The sound of the inevitable rain started to splatter against the window. Willow's breathing began to slow. This is just like all the nights they'd fallen asleep in the Ravenclaw common room together when studying. Willow glanced at Tara from under her eyelashes. The other woman was asleep too. Groggily Willow pulled the blanket from the back of the sofa to cover them up before curling into a ball and falling asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

The crackle of the coffee machine was the first sound Willow heard.

Next came the awareness of a niggling pain in the back of her neck and the fact that during the night she'd pretty much fallen off the sofa. Her upper body lay sprawled across the floor, with her legs still tossed above her on the cushions.

Willow kept her eyes closed not bothering to move. Other sounds began to trickle down to her; Tara's soft footsteps, the chink of mugs and the splash of water. Sighing Willow cracked an eye open.

Not much light filtered in through the drawn curtains, taking a wild guess she figured it was still early and the sky outside was a sickly mix of grey's.

Willow reluctantly pushed herself up onto her elbows. It turned out the stiffness wasn't limited to her neck; it spread all the way down her spine.

Groaning, Willow swiveled and pushed herself to her feet. Twisting around for a moment, trying to realign her back, she moved towards the smell of coffee.

The kitchen of the flat was small and brightly colored. Tara sat perched on a stool at the breakfast bar, her blue eyes skimming across the Daily Prophet, mug in hand.

Without glancing up, she smiled lopsidedly.

"Morning Sleepy-head, how's the back?"

Willow glared balefully at Tara as she got herself a giant mug for coffee, filling it she hopped onto the stool next to her flatmate.

"You could have done Something, y'know Tare." Willow muttered, before downing half her mug, ignoring the scalding hot liquid.

"Aw, you know I would Will, but I didn't want to wake you. Its not even seven yet."

Tara's eyes flicked up from her reading to smile softly at the red head. Willow choked on her mouthful of caffeine.

"Not even…?" Willow moaned pitifully. "Why did you make coffee, you know coffee wakes me!" Willow lay her head on the counter, ignoring Tara's stifled giggle.

"I know, you and your freakish coffee nose, but I need the c-caffine. I'm due at Mungo's in-" Tara glanced at the clock on the wall, "Half-an-hour."

Willow nodded groggily as she sipped her coffee slower.

"I don't have to be in until late, I also may not be back tonight-"

A blonde eyebrow was raised in question.

"Misson-y thing. Scrimgeour made a team up of us to go out on some wild goose chase lead he got. Likely scenario? We end up sitting in some woods in the pouring rain all night, or a run-down pub in the middle of nowhere, where the guys insist on hitting on me. Stupid Scrimgeour, man works us overtime doing nothing."

Willow pouted heavily, before flicking her wand to summon the coffee pot over.

Tara smiled sympathetically. With the wizarding world in utter mayhem due to Voldemort, both the Auror office and St. Mungos were making their employees work double time.

"J-jackson is away so I-I'm helping in Spell Damage t-today. It's c-crazy in there at the moment, all the-the…" Tara trailed off a pained expression on her face.

Willow nodded gravely, she was faced with what the death eaters were doing daily. With a shuddering breath Tara set her mug down.

"Are you flooing or apparating?" Willow asked over the rim of her mug, green eyes watching Tara move to the sink.

"Floo. I need to see if Oz is still there, h-he was keeping an eye on Mrs. Bennett for me over night."

As she passed Willow in her seat, Tara brushed her fingertips over soft red hair and Willow closed her eyes letting out a sound akin to a purr. Willow enjoyed the closeness she and Tara shared, all the little touches and gestures.

Smiling happily to herself, Willow waved her wand to get the dishes and mugs to clean themselves.

Yawning and scratching at her mussed hair, she grabbed an apple. Willow wasn't due at the offices until the afternoon.

Aurors schedules were generally pretty solid but when they had missions the hours got crazy, that meant either all-nighters or being away from home for days on end.

Glancing at the clock again Willow groaned at the early hour.

"I'm going back to bed." She muttered to herself.

* * *

><p>The Auror offices were situated on the second floor of the ministry. They weren't very impressive.<p>

Cream paint, along with tasteful wooden floors; or as tasteful as the cheap wood could be.

There were several cubicles in one corner, which were occupied by the senior Aurors, and great banks of wooden desks for the rest. Wood seemed the theme in this department.

Off the main room were several smaller rooms, hidden behind the [these?] doors were the more exciting rooms. The head of the department's office, the strategy rooms, training rooms, break room and the most exciting of all, the dark little room which held shelves upon shelves of books and the cabinets with all the paperwork.

Willow squinted through the water that dripped through her fringe; the weather that had seemed lovely had turned dark.

Slumping down into her desk hair she studied her desk calendar. Late October. She was surprised the good weather had held as long as it had; Yesterday had been glorious. That was the last of the sun that they would be getting until July or even August; sometimes Willow just wished she could live in California were the temperature was above 20°C more often than not.

Groaning, Willow's eyes wandered over to stack of paperwork that was on her desk. She'd neglected to do it yesterday so had come into the office early to get it done.

After a couple hours of hastily filled out paperwork, someone rapped their knuckles loudly on the wood in front of her. When Willow glanced up, she was met by a mismatched set of eyes. One brown and one electric blue, whizzing round in its socket.

"Damn it Moody! That thing still freaks me out, couldn't you have just gotten a normal one?" Willow snapped, a headache had [having?] wormed its way into the front of her brain as she'd worked.

Moody let out a grunt before seizing Willow's wrist and pulling her to her feet.

"Are you ready Evans? Scrimgeour wants us out of here as soon as possible."

Willow nodded rubbing her wrist and smiling ruefully. She knew Moody hadn't meant to hurt her, he just wanted to get this over with. As always he disapproved of Rufus Scrimgeour's plans.

"Where's Frank? He's meant to be on this damned wild goose chase with us isn't he?"

Moody nodded, his blue eye invisible as it looked out through the back of his head.

"Stop that! Jeez Moody!" Willow slapped him lightly on the arm. The eye whizzed back to the front and at that moment Frank Longbottom chose to pop up over Moody's shoulder, grinning.

"We ready to get this show on the road?" He chuckled.

Willow nodded, spinning on her heels to grab her coat that lay over the back of her chair, before glancing at the two older wizards.

"Where is this show headed anyway? I mean I just got told 'Evans you're working on a grave shift tomorrow' and then off ol' Rufus hopped."

Willow glanced between the two wizards nervously, she hated all-nighters. Frank laughed at Willow's babble, Moody just shrugged before heading for the exit.

At 21 Willow was still fairly new to the Auror game, she'd been out of school for three years and had managed to pass the Auror exams early.

"So where…?" Willow asked again as the trio made their way through the golden grilles of the lift, which shut behind them.

"We're after Nott," Frank explained kindly, seeing as there was no explanation coming from Alastair Moody anytime soon,

"We've had some leads on his location, lots of reports from around Luton, that along with the uh… Muggle Deaths, has pretty much confirmed it. We're there to search the area and check the places he's been spotted. Easy right?" Frank grinned easily at the young woman.

Willow nodded jerkily. Nott was a big deal.

Willow frowned, she hated Nott. The man was a known Muggle torturer, even more so than the average death eaters anyway.

Willow thought of her parents, both of whom had passed away. Her Dad had died of a heart attack the year she left Hogwarts, and her Mum had passed away last year.

Willow was just glad that she and Lily hadn't lost them under more gruesome circumstances.

The sound of the main floor being announced in a cheery voice, broke Willow from her train of thought. Moody and Frank both strode out of the lift, and Willow scurried after them, her shorter legs struggling to keep up.

As they left the ministry, Willow tugged her coat tighter around herself. It was already pitch black outside and rain was hammering down once again. The pavement reflected the streetlamps making everything glow yellow and the leaves that yesterday had seemed to be on trees, coated the streets in a slippery bed.

Willow wished she could use a spell to keep from getting wet, or alternately an umbrella, as they moved out into the night.

Tonight was going to be a long night.


	4. Chapter 4

Willow scowled.

She was cold, she was wet, and it was late. So late that all the bars and pubs had long ago thrown out the last few drunkards that had still been in there, along with her, Frank, and Moody.

It was honing in on 4 a.m. and so far all that she had to show for this night of work was a headache, aching feet and several guys phone numbers scrawled on napkins, none of which she wanted at all. Huffing angrily to herself she huddled deeper into her coat. The travel cup shoved under her nose caused Willow's eyes to flick up. Frank grinned at her wiggling the mug in front of her again.

"It's cold, so I figure warm butterbeer might help." Willow's eyes lit up at the prospect of something warm, quickly taking the mug and gulping it down. The heat settled in her stomach radiating outwards and Willow sighed happily, her bad mood momentarily chased off.

Willow squinted ahead trying to make out the shape of Moody further ahead of them when Frank caught her arm and pulled her to a stop under a lamppost. The yellow light illuminated them both and Willow raised a single red eyebrow at him.

"We're getting too close to Mad-eye, looks like we're together." Willow nodded absentmindedly, as another thought occurred to her.

"So standing under a street lamp, not suspicious at all?" Willow muttered sceptically to the bedraggled man next to her.

"We look like a drunk couple kissing." Frank explained softly, as he leaned in close on the pretence of their alibi, his eyes tracking Moody who was now much further ahead. Willow stuck her tongue out in disgust at this idea.

"No offense Frank, but one, you have a wife. And two, I don't swing that way." Willow teased, softly shoving him in the shoulder after she'd assessed as well that Moody was far enough ahead. She heard Frank splutter behind her in mock-offence.

Shaking her head Willow chuckled under her breath.

"How is Alice anyway?" Willow asked brightly. "I haven't seen her in ages, and her desk is like two away from mine!"

A dreamy look crossed Frank's face at the mention of his wife, him and Alice being newly married like Lily and James were. The war seemed to be pushing couples to make their commitments quick.

Willow laughed again, Frank had a way of cheering you even when you were stuck on a mission at ridiculous-o' clock. He was, in that respect, like James and Sirius, except Frank was at least a gentleman.

Ahead of them Moody turned the corner and Willow shoved the man teasingly with her shoulder. Before he could speak several loud cracks sounded from ahead and Willow's green eyes met Frank's. They broke into a run, skidding on the wet ground as they rounded the corner.

A flash of red light narrowly missed Willow's ear. Whipping out her wand Willow fired a counter curse at the hooded figures of death eaters.

One fell hard. Willow's eyes darted round counting them up. Seven.

The wall next to her exploded showering her in rubble. Before she could re-orientate herself, more flashes flew around. Another flick of her wand Willow managed to take another Death eater down.

"Expelliarmus!" One of the cloaked figures roared, wand pointing dead at her.

For a moment she desperately tried to keep her grip on the wand, before it wormed its way out her hand. Seeing no other choice as he raised his wand again, Willow flung herself after her wand.

Her tackle hit him in the knees and her head hit the pavement, with the death eater ending up sprawled on top of her.

Despite the fact the world was swimming after her head's brief acquaintance with the floor, she scratched at the man's face snatching her wand away.

Panting hard she scrabbled away on her hands and knees as a scream resounded around the dark empty street. Willow panicked, wild eyed. Frank was in trouble.

In her moment of distraction the death eater took his chance.

"Defodio!" Something sharp slashed across her cheek. Gasping in pain Willow turned back to face her opponent.

"Such a shame, I was aiming for that pretty little neck, girly." Nott jeered, lifting his wand again.

Willow's eyes widened in panic as she saw who she'd been attacking. Not good, not good. Raising her wand, she quickly pointed it at him.

Before she'd even had a chance to curse him, he crumpled down onto the pavement once more.

Towering over her and the fallen death eater stood another figure.

* * *

><p>Tara tugged at the edge of her lime green healer's robes trying to get the distinct crease along the left hand side. Sighing she left it, deciding that no one would care for the state of her robes when she had work to do.<p>

Trotting out of the staff changing rooms she waved slightly at the shape of Oz slumped half-asleep on the sofa. The spikey haired young man worked nights at St Mungo's. He was a close friend of both Tara and Willow's and he'd been in the year above them.

"Head home Oz, it's late and you've worked hard all night." Oz nodded wearily, patting Tara's arm before heading to the fireplace.

Tara's eyes flicked to the clock as the flames in the fireplace flared brightly. It was 8 'o clock, she was early for her shift, but Mungo's was always happy to have more staff.

Pushing herself up onto the reception area's counter she swung her legs, while next to her one of the receptionists laughed, and pushed a clipboard towards her. Clipped on the board was a mass of papers with various patients files and documents muddled together.

"Elle, does there have to be so much paperwork?" Tara groaned, internally chuckling at how much she sounded like her redheaded roommate when she was grousing about paperwork.

Flicking through the paperwork she spotted some not belonging to her.

"Oz needed you to finish some for him, just the basic stuff he didn't know about some of the people you got him checking on." Tara nodded at Elle absentmindedly, as she grabbed a pen and started to fill some sheets out.

Tara was generally bounced around departments, as she was one of the few healers versatile enough to be able work in all the different areas.

It shocked most of the older healers, both Tara and Willow had only been out of school around three years and Tara was only a week or so shy of her 21st birthday.

A loud buzzing cut across the noise in the waiting room and Tara leapt to her feet; she knew the drill. The buzzer only sounded if there was a ministry related incident. Quickly she moved towards the rooms they had separated off on the first floor.

Pushing open the door, her heart nearly stopped.

Willow's red hair was mattered with blood from a cut on her forehead and three large gouges across her cheek, the blood had soaked her blue shirt and tan coat in crimson.

Another healer was trying to get her to stay seated in the chair they'd gotten her into, but despite the fact she was fairly dazed, she was determined not to be treated first.

"For Merlin's sake! Leave me and help him, darn it!" Willow practically growled at the healer, stabbing a finger towards another healer who was checking Frank Longbottom over.

With one look at the man Tara knew who needed the most help. Striding past the first healer she pushed Willow firmly into the chair. Willow finally gave in, although Tara wasn't sure if it was due to the fact the red head recognized her, or if she'd just run out of energy.

Tara's lime robes swirled as she left the healer to deal with Willow and went to help her other colleague. Tara knew she was just there to assist and it would be much better for the auror if he was looked at by a senior healer.

* * *

><p>Frank had been wheeled up to a room on the fourth floor, where spell damage was located. Tara, along with the other wizard, had determined that Frank had been hit with multiple stunning spells and then the Cruciatus Curse.<p>

After several spells and numerous potions, the man was now sleeping off the damage. Luckily it seemed the unforgivable curse hadn't been in effect long enough to cause severe damage.

Sighing, Tara left the room to go in search of Willow. The other auror had been moved into another private room to be treated. Running a hand through her hair, Tara hurried to find the room Willow was in, knowing the healer dealing with Willow would need to be excused.

Willow hated magical medicine, probably due to her muggle upbringing. Tara smirked as she remembered visiting the Evans' house one summer to find Willow's arm in a sling.

What the blonde found in the end was a surprisingly docile redhead lying on one of the medical tables down the corridor.

"Calming draft?" Tara asked, fairly surprised they'd given such a thing to the witch. The healer nodded along as she double checked what she'd written on a sheet.

"Yes, she was working herself into a fit, Maclay, and making the head wound worse. So calming and stultus potions, some essence of dittany for the cuts. A prescribed calming and numbing potion for the next day or two, also. I'll leave you to deal with the rest." With that the flat mates were left alone.

Willow smiled dopily up at Tara.

"Taaaaare bear." The other witches arms wrapped around Tara's waist hugging her tightly. Laughing the blonde pushed Willow back onto the bed.

"I'll get Lily to come take you home and look after you for the day. We're just lucky tomorrow is a day I can take off."

Tara shook her head at the redhead as she set about dealing with the arrangements, choosing to ignore the overwhelming relief and the odd nagging feeling in the back of her mind.


	5. Chapter 5

Tara pushed the front door open quietly.

She was well aware that the potions Willow had been dosed with that morning had most likely sent the redhead to sleep.

Setting her shopping bags at her feet, she hung her coat up on one of the hooks by the front door. She hesitated for a moment, before deciding that shopping came before checking on the redhead. Putting up the food she'd bought was an easy task, since Willow had their kitchen meticulously organized.

As she was closing the fridge a person appeared in the doorway. For a moment Tara mistook the figure for Willow before recognizing her flatmate's younger sister.

Lily grinned at Tara before grabbing the orange juice carton from her and perching herself on the counter top.

"Your sister would not approve of that." Tara teased the other girl, raising her eyebrow playfully and grabbing a glass from beside the sink and passing it to her.

"You mean me sitting on the counter, or the fact I was about to drink out of the carton?" Lily laughed, wiggling her eyebrows.

"Both." The blonde chuckled, as she unpacked the last bag while debating what to make for dinner.

"We both know that as much as my big sis loves to pretend she's perfect, we're pretty much the same. So I can guarantee that she was most likely doing this-" Lily took a swig from the carton, pointedly ignoring the glass set next to her. "When she was last home."

"Ew, Lily! I have to drink that too!" Tara groaned, face twisting in disgust. This just caused the younger redhead to laugh happily.

"

Oh Tara, naïve, naïve, Tara." Lily patted her softly on the arm in a gesture of mock comfort.

"Sometimes I wonder why I put up with you and Will." Tara grumbled, with a roll of blue eyes. .

"How could you, Tara Maclay! You love the pair of us." Lily winked at the blonde before taking another swig of orange juice directly from the carton.

"You make a mess, sit on my counters, drink out of the carton and frankly make terrible jokes." Tara jested, shoving Lily light-heartedly as she reached into a cupboard over the girls shoulder. Lily shrugged; you couldn't argue with that.

"How is Willow?" Tara frowned as she started to cut some meat with a knife.

"Fine, fine. Why do you do that?" Lily waved away the question before hopping off the side to move closer.

"Lily I want a full report on Willow. And 'why do I do' what?" Tara asked, setting some oil to heat in a pan while she finished chopping.

"Why do you do it by hand? I mean we have wands; you could use magic and bam! Job done. Instead you do it by hand. I mean what's the deal? Willow does it too. The pair of you are super powerful witches and you do most things like muggles. I mean, I always wonder…" Lily sighed, her brow furrowed in confusion.

Tara sighed, tossing the cut up food into the sizzling oil.

"You remember in your third year, when Willow was obsessed with the library?" Tara waited for the nod from the younger girl. "She ended up learning so many spells and using magic to do everything, even dressing. Then you remember, she accidentally blew up Flitwick's classroom trying out a new spell and landed herself in the hospital wing for a week?" Lily nodded, her red eyebrows now furrowed even more.

Tara waited for the girl to reach a conclusion on her own.

For a moment the brows stayed crumpled, then understanding spread across her face.

"I geddit" Lily beamed, and Tara chuckled to herself. Lily and Willow were far too similar for the world's good. "I see, uh huh! You didn't want my dumb sister breezing along on a power hunt and ending up like-" Lily cut herself short, looking for a moment terribly sad.

"I'm just going to check on my dumb ol' sister." Lily muttered leaving Tara cooking alone in the kitchen.

The blonde sighed as she added vegetables to the meat. Tara knew all about Lily and one Severus Snape,both from first hand and what she'd been told by Willow.

The boy had been very sweet to begin with, as far as she could tell he'd ended up close with both Evans sisters before they'd even joined Hogwarts.

Then things had just turned sour at school. As much as she loved James and his gaggle of friends, they had been fairly brutal to the kind hearted boy, although you couldn't deny Severus had gotten himself sucked into the dark arts. It was sad really, another person lost and not even to death. No he was over on Voldemort's side.

It was just lucky that neither Willow or Lily had come across him in their many scrapes with the Death eaters.

With another sigh Tara added noodles to the mix cooking. She fought the niggling urge to go check on Willow as she stirred the food, she knew it would be silly; The dinner would burn and Lily was already on it.

Taking the food to the coffee table by the sofa she curled up into one end with a bowl of stir-fry tucked between her and the arm. Lily emerged into the room sniffing happily.

"Jeez Tare, I love your cooking." The redhead moaned happily as she shoved a forkful into her mouth. Tara chuckled swirling the noodles around her own fork.

"I take it she isn't up to food?" The blonde murmured nodding her head at the door that was ajar. Lily nodded as she chewed her mouthful.

"About an hour ago she was getting wiggy about things at work and the potions, you know her and magic medicine; big no go. Anyway, I gave her them before she got lucid enough to pound me into the ground. Out like a light and still is." Lily grinned helping herself to more food.

* * *

><p>The radio played muggle music, filling the apartment with a comforting sound.<p>

Sprawled across the floor on her back was Lily, while above her stretched out on the sofa, was Tara. Since dinner neither girl had bothered to move very far.

Lily had explained that she'd told James she was spending the night with Tara and Willow, to which James had giddily invited the 'Marauders' over to the couple's house.

Willow was still dead to the world, not even muttering in her sleep as she normally did. So the evening was peaceful as the two girls lay in the living room.

"So, are we still having that party for you?" Lily drawled lazily as she rolled onto her side to look at her quasi-sister. Tara nodded, glancing down at the younger girl.

"I-I thought we were just going to do i-it as a joint thing with Sirius. I-I really don't want to cause t-trouble." Tara stuttered slightly.

"I guess that means we'll have to do it at ours. More space and Willow doesn't let Sirius in here anymore." Lily scowled at the thought of having to organize something. Tara smiled fondly at the mention of the Willow quirk.

"Y-your house is b-bigger than this tiny place, anyway." Tara smiled.

"Sometimes I wonder how you and Will stand such close quarters, I swear to god half the time I want to strangle James." Tara flushed bright red and Lily rolled her eyes. The witchy duo were so clueless sometimes.

"That's because you only married J-James cause he's loaded," Tara teased. "I would consider g-going straight for Jame's r-rugged features and bags of money."

Both girls giggled at this idea. Tara may not have been as out there as Willow, but when it came down to it, no one would confuse Tara for being into the male gender.

"Technically Blondie, you are just as loaded as my husband." Lily chuckled. Tara flushed slightly before raising an eyebrow. Her family being pureblood meant Tara did have lots of money, but that didn't mean Tara liked it.

"S-so the truth comes out. The Evans sisters; gold diggers." Tara exclaimed soberly. Lily made to push herself up, her face set in mock-horror.

"I must fetch Willow and we must flee! Our secret has been discovered!" She wailed before flopping back to the floor laughing. Tara laughed happily as well, as she sank further into the cushions.

* * *

><p>Willow's room was dark as Tara crept in.<p>

The only light came from the streetlight outside as it struggled through the gap in the curtains. The flat was silent, aside from the sounds of Lily snoring on the living room floor.

Glancing at the bed she was met with two fuzzy green eyes gazing back at her from the tangled mess of tie-dye sheets..

"Tare?" Willow rasped sleepily, a pale hand snaking out towards Tara. Smiling the blonde moved closer to sit on the bed.

"Hey Willow, how are you feeling?" Tara smiled kindly, her heart twisted oddly at the sight of a half-asleep Willow.

"My head feels big? Is it big? 'Cause it feels like its planet sized, maybe not as big as Neptune… Venus, definitely Venus sized." Willow rambled drowsily.

Tara chuckled, reaching out and pushing some red hair out of Willow face. Willow smiled blearily.

"Well your head is normal sized," Her hand unconsciously stroked the soft, vibrant hair.

Willow's eyelids were already drooping.

Tara glanced at the half-healed scratches on the other women's face and the gash above her eyes. Her heart made another funny jerk.

"Do you need some more potions?"

Willow's eyes flew wide open again, shaking her head weakly, muttering her protest immediately,

"No potions. Icky. Don't know what's in them or what they do. Bad potions. Bad..." Willow continued to shake her head.

Tara's palm on her cheek stopped the motion. Blue eyes met green, and Tara rolled her eyes at the redhead.

"Willow, I'm a healer; hence I know what's in them. Anyway silly-" Tara nudged Willow lightly.

"You helped me learn them, so you have some idea." Green eyes shut again and she shook her head once more.

"Still, no potion. Don't like, it makes me feel funny. Not in control." Tara sighed and nodded, about to stand up and let the injured party sleep. A small hand caught her wrist keeping her there.

"Don't go. Stay with me? My head still feels funky." Came the pleading tone.

Relenting Tara slipped under the blankets to join her roommate. A dreamy smile covered Willow's face as she snuggled close.

"I like Tara snuggle-" A yawn interrupted the rest of the sentence, so it came out as a mumble.

Tara managed to catch the request to be told something. Wrapping a tentative hand round the redhead's back Tara relaxed further into the bed.

"I-I spoke to Donnie e-earlier. H-he seemed happy, him and Faith are still going steady. He said they'd try and visit around Christmas. B-but you know how hard it can be for Donnie sometimes."

Tara sighed as she thought of her squib brother. Donnie was a great guy, Tara supposed it was lucky he hadn't been raised with their father around. The man would have crushed all the kindness out of him. Instead Tara and Donnie had been raised by their mother, who'd fled with both children when Donald Maclay showed signs of getting violent at his son's lack of magic.

"I-I also talked to Mama, she's doing okay. Told you to get well, and said that we have to go visit her shop s-sometime soon."

The warm breath on Tara's neck had slowed and the smaller body nestled against her had become heavier and limp , Willow had drifted off during Tara's soft talk of family.

Realizing that she'd be unable to retrieve her arm from the redhead without waking her, Tara settled down more comfortably, finding herself surprisingly calm despite the fact she was sharing a bed with the other girl.

Sure they'd fallen asleep together curled on various sofas but this felt more deliberate. Soon Tara followed Willow into the abyss of sleep, her last thought was how nice it was.


	6. Chapter 6

Running a hand over her cheek, Willow glanced at her reflection in the mirror again.

The cuts marring her cheek weren't as noticeable as she thought they should be. That was one thing that could be said for magic healing, it worked.

Willow chuckled dryly as the moved to brush her teeth.

She'd been trapped in the apartment for less than a day, with Remus to keep her company, but her patience was already wearing thin. She was needed to help at the office, plus she didn't know the states of Moody and Frank.

It was fairly obvious that her babysitter hadn't just popped over like he'd pretended; her sister and Tara were trapping her in the house. As much as she loved them for their concern, the situation at work was fairly dire, so she had planned the perfect escape.

Setting her toothbrush down on the side, she allowed her eyes to drift over her face once again. It wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. For a moment she gripped the sink edge, as she clamped down on the memory of Frank's screams. Closing her eyes tightly, she tried to ignore the pain that flared up. Her memory of the wizarding world was shrouded in the war, and things had just gotten worse as soon as she left school.

With a quick shake of her head she rid herself of the morbid thoughts, it was never good to dwell on things that she couldn't really help,and with one final self-conscious glance into the mirror, Willow whirled on her heels and left the bathroom.

A smile played on her face as she noticed the absence of her baby sitter. Creeping back into her room, she scouted for a suitable coat to wear to work. Her normal one was coated with blood from the previous days adventure, a quick mental note to clean it flashed into her head as she grabbed the substitute black one. Glancing at her boots she judged how silent she could be in her escape of the apartment.

"I wouldn't if I were you." A voice behind her chuckled. Willow leapt a foot in the air and spun to face the intruder. Ignoring her swimming head and the rising nausea she glared at the tall man.

"Damn it Remus! Do not do that!" Brown eyes met hers and he laughed louder. Stomping over to him Willow prodded his chest in annoyance.

"Just where exactly are you planning to go?" Remus queried, a brown eyebrow cocked at her appearance. Shuffling nervously for a moment, Willow studied the wall over the werewolf's left shoulder.

"It's not what you think." She muttered feebly, wishing she'd just left out the window when she'd gotten a chance.

"Ah, so you're not sneaking out of the house alone to go into work, leaving me alone to be beaten to death by one incredibly angry blonde upon her return?" Remus grinned sarcastically.

Willow's brow lowered as she leveled the young man with another glare.

"And here I thought you were better than those hooligans you hang around with young man. See me not liking you anymore." Willow pouted as she attempted to push past him. His hand caught the redhead's upper arm as she attempted to make her escape.

"Ah, ah, ah, I may fear your wrath Willow, however, I fear our dear Tara's oh-so-much more. Behave." Lupin wagged a finger at the short woman hoping that she would get the idea that there was no leaving.

The red head stared at the finger in front of her face for a moment thinking, and the silence stretched on as she continued to think. It was now the man's turn to squirm; he knew that the older girl was undoubtedly coming up with a plan, one that he was certainly going to be unable to stop.

"I'm not allowed to be alone?" Willow smiled brightly, plowing on before he could answer. "Then along you must come." Whirling on her heel Willow marched to the front door without another word.

"Fine, fine!" Remus huffed as he followed on her heels "But we are only staying for 2 hours, and as soon as we get back you're taking your potion. Not to mentioning explaining to Miss Maclay that this is not my fault." Willow's answering grin was wide and smug as she shut the door, redoing the locks behind them.

"Uh huh, will do. To satisfy you even more we'll walk there. No floo or apparating, which would be bad for my head." Willow kept to herself the fact that her head was beginning to throb with a heavy disco beat.

"It's just lucky I don't have a job…" Lupin groused, as Willow started quickly for the stairs out of her building.

* * *

><p>Central London was buzzing with activity, cars whizzed past the pair as they made their way to the public toilets situated nearby at Whitechapel. Remus' eyes flicked down to watch the petite redhead as a dark scowl painted itself across her face. He tried not to laugh as moments later her lower lip joined the rebellion in a pout.<p>

Willow could feel the man's eyes on her, but didn't bother to change her expression, she hadn't thought the whole walking plan through entirely.

"I hate going through the toilets, so unhygienic." Willow pulled another horrible face, as she voiced her thoughts to the werewolf next to her. Ignoring his reaction she shoved him towards the male side.

Before he could protest, she raised a single red brow.

"Male. Female. Me not going to run. You go male. Me female."

Shaking a head at his momentary denseness, she followed the queue of other woman into the bathroom. Shutting the cubicle door behind her she repressed the urge to wretch as she stepped into the toilet bowl. With a single tug of the chain she was whisked into the Ministry of Magic.

The atrium was huge, as usual, and Willow repressed the urge to groan as she thought of the extra distance her and Lupin would have to cover to get across it.

Glancing towards the other sets of entrances, she spotted her companion. Attempting to hurry over to the tall figure, she got knocked to the floor by someone running out of the entrance next to hers. The breath rushed out of her lungs as she hit the hard marble floor and her head throbbed mercilessly at being jumbled around. Scooting onto her butt, she glanced up at the figure above her. The woman was well-dressed, with robes of a deep regal purple. Willow's brain, still attempting to regain its grip on time, didn't even register anything as the woman shoved past.

Blinking stupidly, Willow realized her position on the cold and slightly dirty floor. A hand appeared in her vision just as she was about to pull herself to her feet; following the arm up, Willow was met with a pair of navy blue eyes and a smile.

"On your ass again Miss Evans?" Amelia Bones laughed as she hauled the younger girl to her feet.

Nodding weakly, Willow glanced around for Remus, who was bobbing through the surprisingly large crowd over to them. Amelia Bones worked in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and had helped Willow several times over the course of her time at the Ministry. Her brother was amongst the members in the Order. Willow had been delighted to hear that the woman was up for a very important promotion, Amelia was very good at her job and always unbiased.

"T-thanks." Willow stuttered, a light blush covering her cheeks. Amelia merely nodded and set off on her way.

Willow forced the blush down and moved towards the figure of Remus. Grinning up at the frowning man ,Willow patted him on the shoulder ignoring the plethora of questions on her health and fall, instead choosing to head straight to their destination.

The golden grated doors of the lift pinged merrily into the atrium, the lift itself filled with several people already. In the left-hand corner stood Arthur Weasley engrossed in a muggle manual of some sort. Tilting her head, Willow tried to read the cover to discover this week's fascination. Car manual, Willow managed to assess but was still unable to tell what model of car.

Willow didn't spare a glance to the others in the office as she entered and scurried towards the collection of shabby cubicles that were reserved for the senior aurors.

Popping her head round the corner of Moody's, she noted it was meticulously clean, papers stacked and complete on one end of the desk, with notes and stationary on the other. Willow's brows scrunched together at the lack of her superior.

Spinning on her heel she nearly collided with Lupin, but darting round him she headed to her desk. It was a jumble of pens, paperwork and personal touches, which contrasted greatly with both Moody's desk and most of the other tables within the offices.

There on top of the mess was a bright yellow note. Willow's eyes widened as she read it, before jamming it into her pocket. Spinning once again, she was about to take off at a run, but Lupin's hands gripped her forearms stopping all movement.

"Slow down before you collapse," He instructed firmly trying to push her into a chair. "Now what is happening?" Struggling out of his grip, she gestured wildly in the direction of the head of the Auror department's office.

"Meeting about the mission yesterday, I really should go help Mad Eye. You can stay here. I'll be back soon."

* * *

><p>The call to enter sounded sharp, suppressing a wince, Willow pushed Rufus Scrimgeour's office door open. All the eyes in the office fell upon her.<p>

"Ah Miss Evans, finely care to join us." Scrimgeour muttered sarcastically.

Moody's blue eye whizzed furiously at the snide comment made at his protégée, but that was the only outward sign of his annoyance. Willow crept over and perched on the chair that had been magically pulled out the moment she'd entered.

The men's attention was diverted away from her again, to continue their discussion of the meeting. Willow decided her best bet was to just sit quietly.

"Tell me Alastor, how two of our higher aurors and our 'prodigy'-" The sneer in his voice was obvious "were taken down, two are injured, one severely, and the majority of the targets got away?" Willow winced, when put that way it sounded bad.

"Ambushed. We were only sent to do recon. We may be able to hold our own against most death eaters, but being attacked because we were following the protocol of distance between aurors, is not our fault." Moody snapped at the head. Scrimgeour seemed to bristle at the mere mention that his system was wrong.

Willow kept her gaze fixed on her lap, where her fingers were furiously twisting themselves into knots. This wasn't going to be pretty and her head already hurt.

* * *

><p>Willow rubbed her eyes as Moody shut the door to Scrimgeour's office behind them. Her skull felt as if it was soon going to explode, and the cuts on her face were stinging like mad. Glancing at Moody she saw the disapproving stare he was shooting her.<p>

"I thought I told you and Miss Maclay, that you were on leave." Willow gritted her teeth and felt her hair rise in anger, as the man addressed her in a condescending tone.

"I already told you Mad-eye, darn it. No way am I sitting on my ass and letting you take the hit for all of our screw ups." For a moment the two squared up to each other, both glaring daggers. Lupin, who had seen them exit the office moments ago, intervened before their frayed nerves could get them into a fight.

"What actually happened, Willow was fuzzy on the details?" He asked brow creased with worry.

"Head wounds do that to you Remus." Willow muttered dryly, taking the seat at her desk and putting her head in her hands to block out the bright lights illuminating the offices.

"We were ambushed. Seven death eaters in total. Got a jump on us. I took down two, Mister Longbottom was in the process of taking down his first, when a few well placed curses hit him before I could stop them. Evans was already taking on Nott, after disposing of two, when she was injured. I stopped any more severe damage being done, but the one torturing Longbottom took off along with Nott." Moody spat in disgust at the mess of an operation.

"It was a huge failure." Willow groaned into her palms.

"But you took down the majority of them, getting several into ministry custody." Lupin frowned, not understanding how this was classed as a loss.

"We failed the objective. Nott got away, the bastard , and Frank got hurt." Willow growled dangerously, the pain of her head not making her at all forgiving now.

"How is Frank?" Lupin asked, concern coloring his voice. Green eyes peered blearily over the top of pale hands to query Moody as to the fate of their friend.

"He's bloody lucky," Moody grumbled. "The curses that hit him in the chest broke a couple of ribs. The unforgivable curse scrambled his brain a little. He's in shock and waiting on tests for Post Traumatic Stress. He'll be on leave for several weeks, lucky to get away with his sanity." Moody made to stomp away in the direction of his cubicle before pausing.

"Evans go home and take a weeks leave. Can't have our 'prodigy' over tired. And don't forget constant vigilance, maybe it will finally get through that thick skull." Willow grinned weakly as Moody disappeared.

Looking up at Lupin with hopeful green eyes, Willow finally reduced herself to begging.

"Home please? I want to get over the wrath of my roommate, possibly my sister and brother-in-law too, and just go to bed


	7. Chapter 7

Tara glanced over the mass of bottles, all varying in color and size, before carefully selecting a couple. Carrying over the two vibrantly colored liquids, she smiled warmly at the shy child clinging to her father's sleeve.

Big brown eyes peaked at her over the wool she clung too, before, with a flurry of blonde hair, the eyes disappeared back behind the sleeve.

"Hey Bella," Tara spoke softly, holding out a hand to the child

"Do you mind if I look at your Dad? You can hold his hand but I just need to get a closer look, okay?" The brown eyes widened, and the girl clutched tighter to the jumper's sleeve, but shuffled over to allow her more room. Tara beamed at the child as she moved closer to inspect her patient.

Gently removing the blood-stained tea towel from his arm, she cringed at the sight of the wound. The teeth of whatever had bitten him were huge and numerous. The wound was bloody, and seemed to be turning a nasty shade of sky blue. She winced at the thought of what had taken a bite out of the man.

Grabbing a cotton bud, she quickly swiped the dirt out of the wound, and poured a neon pink gloop out of one of the bottles. For a moment the skin foamed, and then a scab formed over the top. With another cotton bud she swiped away the blue froth, before dabbing on the second potion.

She studied the bite for another few moments, then, when satisfied, she taped on a large piece of gauze. Smiling at the man for a brief moment, she moved back to the cabinet filled with finished potions and ingredients. Selecting several items, she quickly added them all into her brass cauldron. With a flick of her wand flames flickered beneath.

"Your potion will be ready in just a sec, and then you just have to go speak to one of our desk people. They'll need to see your dangerous beast license, because that clearly comes under dangerous beast." The man chuckled at this, bouncing his child on his knee.

At the bubbling sound of the potion, Tara quickly poured it into a flask, and handed it to the man, before escorting him out the small treatment room. Dropping him off by the large front desk, she waved quickly at Elle before ducking into the Healer's lounge.

The room was relatively empty, except for the two new healers that were talking quietly on one of the shabbier sofas as one of Tara's mentors, John Smith, lay spread-eagled on another snoring like a buzz saw. She had to smother a chuckle at the sight of the older Healer.

The merry chime of the clock on the wall alerted her to the time, blue eyes widening, she fumbled with the key to unlock her locker. The old metal door squeaked open as she ignored the various pictures blu-tacked inside, and grabbed the fraying blue duffle bag from the depths. She needed to get home and shower quickly, if she wanted to be on time tonight.

* * *

><p>Tugging at the hood of her rain coat to keep the drizzle out of her eyes ,Tara let herself through the creaky iron gate.<p>

The house ahead wobbled its way skyward, defying all laws of physics. Attachments were stuck on at random, making it look much more like a children's drawing than a plausible building.

Moving across the small chicken-scratched yard to the faded green door, Tara found it hard not to smile. The Weasley house may have been a mismatched looking place, but the family that lived there was one of the best.

Knocking lightly on the door, Tara waited. Footsteps were heard before a crack appeared in the door. Molly Weasley's face peered through, brightening at the sight of the younger witch. After quickly exchanging questions, the door was opened fully. Molly swept Tara into a hug before she could blink.

"Thank you for helping with Fred the other day. He's much better now." Tara waved the comment off easily; it was her job.

"I-is Willow okay?" Tara asked, as she was pushed into a chair at the large wooden table taking up the centre of the kitchen.

She had left Willow with in the capable hands of Molly Weasley for a reason, as it seemed Remus, who she thought was the most responsible of her friends, had been dragged into the madness of Willow's little jaunt to school. She winced internally at the thought of the scolding she'd given him when an exhausted Willow turned up with him in tow. It wasn't the werewolf's fault that the redhead had been so stubborn.

The day before she'd left Lily and James in charge of babysitting duty, but had returned home to James with an icepack on his eye, as the result of Lily clocking him one for making too much noise while Willow slept. So it was the Weasley house filled with many kids, or leaving her in the care of Sirius Black today. She thought her roommate would be safer with the kids.

"She's fine, dear. In the other room with the boys, they've been keeping her busy all day. No time for her to think of the offices. You'll be staying for dinner?" Molly's question sounded more like a statement to her, but Tara nodded along anyway. Molly's cooking was amazing, and she needed a break. Before she could drift off into her thoughts, a steaming mug of tea was plonked in front of her. Smiling gratefully she took a sip.

Chatting happily to the other witch for a while, Tara was able to relax and forget the niggling feeling that had been at the back of her mind since Willow's mission.

When Molly got up to start cooking dinner, Tara stood also, pushing her hair back with one hand she gestured towards the door with the other.

"Do you mind if I go check on Willow?" With a nod as answer, she followed the sounds of laughter into the sitting room.

Tara's heart melted when she saw Willow's current situation with the Weasley boys. Willow was leaned back against the sofa with Percy in her lap, his horn-rimmed glasses sliding down his nose as he glared furiously at the chessboard before them.

Leaning on her left side wrapped in a starry blue blanket were the twins, both completely oblivious to the game as they slept. Across from the four sat the two oldest Weasley children, side-by-side. Charlie was staring at his older brother for guidance, as Bill toyed with the knight on the board.

At the sight of her, Charlie bounced up from his position beside his brother, and ran over to hug her leg. The little boy loved Tara, it was really rather cute, Tara thought.

"Hey Tara." He beamed up at her. Chuckling Tara ruffled the flaming red hair.

"Hey Bud, you playing chess with Willow, and your brothers?" With an excited nod he let go of her leg, and scurried back to Bill's side, who was still absorbed in the cheques of the board, to continue the game.

Tara moved to sit on the sofa that her flatmate was using as a backrest. As she settled back into the cushions Willow muttered a quiet hello, so as to not wake the sleeping children using her as a mattress, this was followed by a mumbled greeting from Percy who was now sucking his thumb.

Tara held back a squeak at the cuteness of Willow and the kids. The nearly matching hair could almost make them related. Willow leaned over to point out a piece to Percy, still being careful not to jostle the twins. The three-year-old nodded at what she pointed at, and she moved the piece.

Tara held back another noise at the cuteness, if she wasn't careful she'd end up sounding like her cousin Dawn.

Still though, Tara couldn't help but imagine Willow with kids of her own. Tara's brow furrowed, the niggling had gotten worse. She kept her eyes on the back of Willow's head as the game continued, and Tara puzzled her thoughts out.

In her mind she saw Willow cradling a smaller redhead. As Willow turned to grin at her, and Charlie and Bill started to bicker over their next move, it clicked. She sat frozen as she continued to stare at the older redhead.

Willow's hand snaked up over the edge of the seat and pushed some blonde hair behind Tara's ear. Blue eyes widened as the touch felt like electricity. Her heart thundered in her ears.

"Uh Tare, you okay?" Her mind snapped back to the present moment. Worried green eyes stared up at her. Nodding deftly Tara forced herself to stand.

"I-I-I'm g-g-going to help M-Molly." She stuttered, as she stumbled out of the room, feeling the green eyes still fixed on her.

* * *

><p>As Tara helped Molly in the kitchen, her brain rattled around in her head. Thoughts of small redheads, with blue eyes danced through her mind. Her eyes flitted to Molly Weasley's swollen abdomen, and imagined someone else with red hair with a similar bump. Shaking her head Tara went back to collecting cutlery from the drawer.<p>

"H-how's the next little whirlwind Molly?" Tara smiled, hoping that the talking would help slow her blossoming realization. The older woman positively grinned, and rested a hand on her stomach.

"He's very well thanks, not as energetic as the twins, or Bill." Tara laughed at Molly's assessment of the growing baby, not bothering to question the woman's assumption of a boy. After all Molly already had five others.

"He's due in April right?" A nod confirmed her suspicions, and Molly started to talk about her other pregnancies.

Tara attempted to listen raptly but her mind was flicking back to Willow, and the electricity of her touch. It felt so right, and made Tara want to slap herself for not seeing it before. Everyone else had. Willow wasn't just a friend, Willow was… Well Willow was Willow. Sweet, wonderful, amazing Willow.

Tara's heart fluttered as she thought of the many instances of her best friend. Sleepy Willow, with drooping green eyes and mussed red hair. Concentrating Willow, with the cute scrunch between her eye brows, chin resting on hand. Happy Willow, with creased up eyes and flashing white teeth, pink tongue poking out.

Her Willow-y thoughts were broken when the real thing burst into the room, a screaming twin perched on each hip, with a pied piper trail of three little boys following her. Grinning apologetically, Willow handed the twins off to their mother, before turning to the other boys and requesting they wash their hands.

Tara felt the dreamy look swim across her face at parental Willow, but clamped down on it. Best not alert the other girl to her rapidly evolving feelings.

The girl in question collapsed into a chair next where Tara stood, allowing her head to loll back bonelessly.

"Do you know how exhausting kids are? Especially five little boys! Merlin forbid Lil ends up pregnant. Imagine Potter's spawn, that child will be trouble with a capital T." Willow's moaning was softened by the smile plastered across her tired face.

Tara laughed and allowed her fingers to trace the fast healing cuts on Willow's face. Warmth sparked up her fingers and whole arm at the skin on skin contact, before she brushed some hair away from green eyes, and moved to fetch glasses for dinner.


	8. Chapter 8

The setting sun cast strips of orange light across the living room, making everything glow. The quiet that permeated the house was peaceful after an afternoon filled with the excited squeals and laughs of young children. The warm bodies sprawled across the sofa paid little attention to the unseasonal weather.

Willow lay spread out along the length of the sofa with the Weasley children. This week with her absence from the office she'd been looking after the brood to give Molly a break. It made Tara happier to know she wasn't left alone and it relieved the rest of their friends from the duty of babysitting her. Besides, it'd make good practise for her when Lily finally popped one out, Willow had joked the second day to a withering look from James and a slightly terrified one from her sister.

With Molly out running errands, she and the kids had been left with the run of the house. This had led to some rather brutal games of hide and seeks. Willow had even known how that game could get violent but the little boys had shown her, once Percy had burst into tears after running into a door. The rest of the afternoon had been spent creating a mess in the kitchen with a mix of finger painting and attempting to bake cakes the muggle way. Both of which had been exhausting, in both process and cleaning up..

That was how they'd all ended up slumped over the sofa. At the far end, leaned against the arm Willow's feet in his lap slept Bill, with Charlie's cheek resting on her thigh as he drooled in his slumber. A third small head had made its way onto her stomach, with thumb in mouth and glasses askew. To finish it off she had a toddler tucked under each arm. It was these twin brown gazes that watched her expectantly. Willow smiled gently at the pair.

"Will, Will, sparkies!" George squealed happily, Fred nodding excitedly. With a quick hushing gesture Willow retrieved her wand. An expert twirl sent a swirl of rainbow sparks into the air. Twist and swirling into one another the young boys stared in awe at the display of magic.

Fred giggled sleepily as he snuggled into the woman's side. On her other side George's eyes widened as he watched the colours dance in the air above them. She felt the weight of Fred's body settle more heavily as his muscles relaxed and he drifted out of consciousness.

"Just you and me buddy." Willow whispered to the remaining twin. Big brown eyes met her green ones. A small chubby hand moved up to poke at her cheek, a soft giggle followed as the boy moved to poke a finger into her mouth. In response she snapped her teeth at the approaching finger. Another round of giggles followed this, sleepier this time. Before sticking his thumb into his mouth George yawned. Moving a hand through the short red hair soothingly it wasn't long before the last Weasley was asleep.

Letting out a deep breath of air, she just lay there enjoying the warmth from the kids and the feeling of safety. It was comforting that there was something that was untouched in all this fighting and death.

Willow's eyes started to droop in the peace. The soft breaths of the children were lulling and the patter of starting rain weaved in and out of her hearing as it got heavier and then lighter again.

The bang of a door jerked Willow out of the nap she'd ended up taking. Blinking the fuzziness out of her eyes Willow took in her surroundings. It was much the same as when she'd fallen asleep, except the light was gone and the hum of rain was complemented with the muffled voices in drifting in from the kitchen. Shifting around slowly she removed her little limpets from her limbs carefully. Leaning the twins against one another she covered the legs of all the kids the woolly blanket thrown over the back.

She paused at the doorway to double check that the small ones were still asleep. As they'd all slept Charlie had shifted to lay his head on Bill's shoulder and slung an arm round Percy's little body. Grinning at the adorable sight Willow turned out padded out the room.

As she got closer to kitchen she was able to pick out the different voices layering together. Two female voices and a male. After another moment she recognised the voice of her roommate. With a small wave she entered the room. Molly, Arthur and Tara all paused in their conversation at the intrusion.

"Willow, dear," Molly cooed, "Would you like something to eat? There's some stew." Without an answer the older woman began to prepare a bowel.

"Will! We were just debating about waking you." The blonde smiled over the rim of a mug. Willow nodded sleepily before sitting in one of the vacant chairs.

"The boys are still asleep, like all passed out in one big pile." She muttered, voice still rough with sleep, as she rubbed at her eyes. At that moment Molly shoved a bowel under the young red head's nose. Willow grabbed a spoon eagerly and began to eat.

"We saw. They didn't cause any trouble did they?" Arthur queered, eyes crinkling happily. Willow shook her head. Tara studied her roommate carefully, Willow's eyes flicked up to meet hers. The spoon hung halfway to her mouth as blue eyes drilled into hers. The eye contact lasted several seconds before Molly coughed quietly. Willow's attention snapped back to the food, as she fought back a blush.

"Uh… Anything interesting happen today while I was munchkin herding?" Willow asked, keep her eyes firmly studying the twisted and twirling grain on the surface of the large oak table, fidgeting nervously with the spoon in her hands.

"Yes dear, something did." Molly said softly smiling slightly. Willow's attention snapped up, too adgitated that something had happened while she'd been out of commission to see the peacefulness.

"Oh god! No one's hurt are they? Is Lily okay? James? Was he being a prat again? Did he and Black get in trouble? I bet they did, did-" Willow hit full on panic mode within seconds of her ramble. Only a soft finger on her lips cut the endless stream of words short. Her cheeks flushed bright red again as she stared at Tara. Pink dusted the blonde's cheeks as well but she held it together much more.

"I-it's nothing bad Will. In fact it's good." Tara smiled crookedly, the red head couldn't fight the matching smile that crossed her face. "Frank woke up this morning." Willow leapt from her chair, the previously small smile on her face had turned megawatt.

"Frank?! He's okay! Can I go see him?" Willow yelped, hands gripping the edge of the table. Blonde hair bounced as Tara nodded. Grabbing her wand from her trousers' back pocket, Willow quickly flicked it. The now empty bowl and spoon flew to the sink and started cleaning themselves. Stopping herself from bouncing with happiness she hurried round the table to fling her arms around Molly hugging her fiercely. Rubbing the young woman's back the Weasley mother hugged her back. Pulling back Willow patted the growing bump before she dashed over to kiss Arthur on the head.

"He's okay! Frank's okay!" She babbled happily, grabbing Tara's hand and dragging her towards the back door.


	9. Chapter 9

Willow tugged impatiently on Tara's hand, bouncing on the balls of her feet; her eyes were darting between the other witch, and down the hallway into the bowels of the hospital. Finally deciding to settle her gaze down the hallway; towards where their friend lay. Making a low noise in the back of her throat, she gave a harder pull on the hand she had kept possession of.

In response Tara removed her hand from the tightening grip, but kept her main focus on the chart, scanning for what room Frank was in. For a moment Willow's hand hovered, threatening to take the lost appendage back, but in the end she let her own fall limply to her side. The redhead was practically vibrating with the need to be gone from the front desk and doing something.

"Tara…" She whined, hands moving to fiddle with a loose thread on her sleeve. Tara hummed in acknowledgement. Willow frowned at the lack of a better response, foregoing asking again she decided to poke Tara's arm to get her attention instead.

Tara withheld a sigh, debating whether or not she should answer her impatient flatmate. With a roll of her eyes she decided that it was better to pay Willow the attention she was seeking, rather than continue ignoring her and continue to be pestered.

"Yes Willow?" She asked not looking up, tracking her finger as it moved down the list of 'K' patients into the 'L's.

"Tara, you said we could see him right away, what's taking so long? Is he okay?" The panic in Willow's voice rose, and Tara guessed she was about to work herself into a full on babble of questions. Tara could forgive her for the silly questions; Willow was stressed about her part in Frank's injury, and was still fairly rattled from her own injuries. Tara's finger finally came to rest on

'Longbottom, Frank'.

"Because, Will, we have no idea where he is and I wanted to check his report first," Tara looked up and smiled warmly "And I've got him. Floor 4, Wing 2; room 309B." Tara added quickly before Willow ended up tearing off in the wrong direction. Willow beamed, bouncing one final time, and set off for the lift. With a roll of her eyes, Tara followed.

"I kind of guessed he'd be up there anyway." Willow muttered to her as the doors pinged merrily and slid open. Tara frowned, looking over at the younger witch. Willow laughed at the look of confusion painted across her face, "Tare, I spend far too much time here. Between you and when I trip over my own feet onto our bad guys." Tara chuckled too, remembering when Willow had first become an Auror and ended up tripping into the wizard the team had been trying to catch, sending both of them head over heels onto the mossy floor of the woods they'd been chasing him through,

"Not to mention I wasn't that out of it last time I was here." Tara raised her eyebrows mockingly; in return Willow stuck her tongue out.

Over the top of their teasing the lift scraped to a halt, a friendly voice announcing their arrival at 'Third Floor - Potions and Plant Poisoning: Exit for rashes, regurgitation, uncontrollable giggling, and more.' Willow's glanced at the ceiling before chuckling to herself, Tara nudged the other witch with an elbow.

"Hush, people will think you need help for uncontrollable giggling. What joke am I m-missing?" Tara teased. Willow grinned, reflexively rubbing her arm from the elbow nudge, before gesturing to the ceiling.

"I always laugh when she talks, they use the same woman at the ministry, and it must be such a strange job." Willow explained, her nose scrunching up adorably distracting Tara from a reply.

Before she could snap out of her daydream, she was tugged unceremoniously from the lift, the pleasant voice of the witch announcing the new floor following them down the hallway.

Tara stumbled slightly after Willow unable to find her balance and keep pace at the same time, the other woman was oblivious to her troubles as she swanned down the hall. It was only when she reached an intersection that she paused, unsure of the next direction.

Finally allowed to get her footing, Tara straightened her shirt and took the final step needed to draw level with her flatmate.

"What room-?" Willow started to ask before Tara's hand appeared in front of her face, directing their journey left. Willow shot a smile at the blonde before setting off at a slower pace than before, allowing Tara to point them in the right direction.

The sound of a tinkling laugh melding with a deep bass one floated down the corridor and Willow tensed, swirling to fix Tara with a pleading gaze. Laughing herself Tara nodded, Willow beamed before tearing off down the corridor towards the only open door on the passage. Boots squeaking on the polished floor Willow darted into the room, Tara seeing only a flash of red and the snapping of tanned coat tails.

Willow skidded to an abrupt halt as two pairs of eyes swivelled round to her, both soft and welcoming.

"Willow! You made it." Frank beamed from his place propped up on pillows, to his right his wife Alice smiled just as welcomingly. Willow sighed in relief at the sight of an alert Frank.

"Like I was going to miss out on seeing my favourite married couple, but don't tell Lil I said that," Willow chirped before her eyes darted down "Can I...?" She asked hand waving towards the bed. Frank laughed again at the young woman's hesitance, squeezing Alice's hand that he had a hold of, he nodded. Bouncing to perch on the end of the bed, Willow opened her mouth to ask a question but was cut off by a light rapping on the door and Tara's head popping round. Alice stood up quickly, eyes worried.

"Healer Maclay, is everything…?" She asked her free hand moving to pluck at the cheap blanket spread across Frank's bed. Tara waved down the question.

"E-everything's fine Ally, just being polite, I'm off duty anyway." Tara smiled moving into the starkly light room. Alice relaxed slumping back into her seat, grinning softly at the blonde.

"Sorry Tara, I panicked. Still a little jumpy, but it comes with the territory I guess." The older woman chuckled weakly, Frank stroked her arm comfortingly. Willow in return looked torn between amusement and sorrow, Tara raised a questioning eyebrow at the peculiar look on the other woman's face.

"I'll never get used to the 'Healer Maclay', let alone our friends calling you that." Willow offered answer for the less explainable feeling.

"And to think, all those times I've helped patch you up. Lucky I am qualified." Tara shook her head in mock-disapproval and moved to stand at the foot of the bed, sneaking a glance at the chart present. The notes there would give more information than the brief summary on the reception paperwork had. Everything written there seemed to look fine, vitals, brain activity and no lasting spell damage had occurred, signaling that Frank would be released with a day or so. It was a relief that things were taking a turn back to the chaotic normal the order members seemed to have found of late.

Smiling, she then turned her attention to the story Alice was telling about the auror offices without the pair present, only catching the end that seemed to describe how Moody's eye had been spinning so much it nearly popped out. Willow then launched into her theory on the top speed that the older auror's eye could reach and how it didn't give him a headache.

The sound of the married couple's laughter melting into one another's was calming, it was clear that the pair were perfect for each other. Frank's goofiness and old fashioned gentlemanly ways fit well with Alice's timidness and surprisingly enough, when one knew the small witch, dry sense of humour. From the moment Tara had met them at her first order meeting she'd understood it. Imagining one without the other was like salt without pepper.

The idea that love still managed to blossom despite the pure chaos the wizarding world had been thrown into with the Dark lord's power trip made Tara happy. It was proven through the Longbottom's as well as the Weasley's and their gaggle of small redheads that happiness and love existed in the world still.

The war itself had been teetering on the precipice for several years but had only come fully to the surface with the brutal, and more frequently occurring, slaughter of muggles up and down the country before an attempt on the ministry had bought it through the door with a loud bang.

It was horrid to think of the loss of muggle life that had occurred not being taken seriously until the threat on the ministry of magic had occurred. Tara herself had always been exposed to the non-magical world, despite her pureblood background. Her mother had made sure of it, making it clear that Tara's magic made her no more special than Donnie's lack of it. She'd gone to school with Willow, who despite all her brains sometimes struggled to cover up her muggle roots. It'd never bothered her though; they were people, all the same as her, whether the had the ability to turn cups into rats or not. But she knew most wizards saw it differently, likening them to animals, and those born from them with magical ability polluted with dirty blood.

Even without the influence of her upbringing Tara just had to turn to the Evans sister's to see how wrong that line of thinking was. You could look at Lily's fierce loyalty and sharp tongue, or Willow with that amazing brain and kindness, and know they had just as much right to be acknowledged as anyone else.

As she thought, her gaze drifted to the muggle born witch, taking in her profile as she chattered. Willow's pale skin had taken on an ethereal glow under the lights and her hair stood out as a fiery red against it. In front of her, her hands darted around to emphasis whatever point she was making in the story she'd launched into. Tuning in to half listen to her flatmate Tara, summarized it to be about the Weasley boys that Willow had been babysitting the past week, and the fun they'd had. Tara phased out again; she'd heard all of Willow's stories several times over the past week, as the red head gushed over the children. Instead she focused on Willow's tone of voice, Tara found it hard to describe; no one else ever seemed as animated or bubbly as Willow did when she talked, the only way Tara could describe her voice was just Willowy.

Tara continued to stare at the other woman, trying to drink in all of her. After a few minutes she noticed Alice scrutinizing her carefully, from the small rickety chair next to the bed. When Alice realized she didn't turn away, just raised both eyebrows and smiled slyly. Tara swiftly focused on the wall above the older witches head, fighting back a blush.

She had it bad for Willow and wasn't hiding it well; internally sighing to herself, Tara attempted to rein her wayward thoughts in, or at least make her ogling less obvious.

* * *

><p>Willow lay on her stomach on the sofa twirling her finger round the phone's cable. The apartment was warm from the fire that Tara had charmed, before she'd left earlier in the afternoon to go see her Mum and help with the shop's afternoon rush, in the hopes of keeping the chill out of the apartment that was setting in due to the approach of winter.<p>

The blue flames danced merrily creating flickering patterns along the walls, the only light source besides the small lamp next to the phone and the dying sun peeking through the curtain gap. They'll be turning the streetlights on soon Willow thought absently. The flickering combined with the heat made Willow sleepy and lethargic. Propping her chin up on her free hand she clutched the phone to her ear with her shoulder.

"Mmmmm, Lil that sounds ace. Uh huh." Willow hummed as her little sister babbled on about the party that had been planned for Tara and Sirius' party that had just ended up as a Halloween party as well. Lily had rung over an hour previously and had since been talking about food, decorations and whether or not there should be games. Willow barely needed to talk, just listen to her sister argue with herself on the other end of the line.

This was one of the reasons the Evans sisters preferred the creature comfort of the phone. Tara had been puzzled by the request originally, not understanding why they'd choose to use a phone rather than the floo network but had agreed. It had been better than James who'd down right refused at first, which Willow still chalked up to fear of the muggle government spying on his home. But, as always, Lily had won her husband, then boyfriend, over. The pair of muggle born witches enjoyed some of the muggle aspects in life, reminding them of their roots. They had often fallen asleep on the phone line listening to the other breathing at the other end, Willow claimed it reminded her of being little and Lily crawling into her bed.

In the quiet Willow's head lolled back against the sofa back abandoning leaning on her hand. Yawning deeply into the cushions, Willow heard her jaw crackle unpleasantly. In her foggy brain she heard Lily say something about butterbeer. Yawning again she rubbed sleepily at her eyes with her palm. All the plans for Tara's party were exciting but Willow couldn't help wishing the pair of them could just skip it and stay in their cozy little flat away from the world and their responsibilities.

In her haze of tiredness she failed to realize that her sister was calling her name. The jarring sound of her name being shouted down the phone line caused her to jolt dropping the phone with a clatter. Swearing under her breath Willow scrabbled to retrieve the phone, and by default her sister, from where it'd fallen to the floor.

"Lil? You still there? Sorry, I dozed off. Yes, yeah. I think Tara'll love it, why are you even asking? You know her nearly as well as me." Willow pushed herself up to sit curled against the sofa's arm and continue against her battle of heavy eyes.

* * *

><p>With the loss of light the Charm shop had emptied out quickly and shut just as quickly. In these times it wasn't best to linger about, especially after dark. Things lurked out there in the dark that were enough to scare hardened aurors.<p>

Tara leaned against the counter as she watched her mother work. It was something she'd always found soothing, distracting her from her chaotic thoughts. A pinch of this, a dash of that. Her Mum always knew exactly what was needed for each charm. Teresa Maclay moved gracefully around the store in a swirl of soft blonde hair and deep purple robes, the smattering of stars across the surface glinting gold in the shop's lights.

"What's on your mind, sweetie?" Teresa smiled at her youngest, as she selected the correct jar for her protection charm. She smiled softly at the look of mild shock that crossed her daughter's face. Placing the jar on the counter next to Tara's elbow, she moved to cup her face in one hand. "I know something is up sweetie, because I'm your mother and I can always tell when something's wrong with my children. No matter how old you are." The two shared a smile before Teresa returned to her work.

With a grimace Tara moved to study the worn star chart that adorned the wall next to the shop's till. "It's just, well, I've realized something," Tara began, running her nail absent-mindedly along the grain of the wooden surface, eyes still fixed on the constellations on the wall, searching for the right words. Steeling herself Tara finally glanced round to look at her mother. "Mama, I really like Willow."

Tara'd been expecting at least a shocked reaction from Teresa, but the one she received instead was knowing and not at all surprised.

"Tara, sweetie, I don't mean to be rude, but anyone with eyes could see that." Teresa smirked at the young witch; despite this easy acceptance she received a grimace and a huff of annoyance for her troubles.

"I-I'm really sick of people saying that Mama. Me and Willow have always just been friends. She's just always been Willow. My best, and I wouldn't change that for the world." Eyebrows scrunched together, Tara's hand was on the counter top curled into a fist.

"That's just the point Honey. She's always been just your Willow, and you've always been her Tara. No matter how you look at it, the pair of you fit. The only problem is, however, have you told her how you're feeling?"


End file.
